I’m not sure that I’ve been precise enough about the kind of mental pain that’s alleviated, because there are some emotions that are painful but are not dukkha, like fear and grief. So if you read this and think “awakening means not feeling sad or afraid” then that’s wrong, but awakening does mean that feeling sad or afraid is not distressing in any way beyond the initial emotion (the experience of fear becomes like “fear is happing to me” rather than “I’m afraid”).
Second, and this is partly the fault of how we talk about things in English, but also just to reiterate that it’s also slightly wrong to say that one becomes enlightened or awakened in that the normal understanding of what that means is slightly off. This is not a switch to a different persistent state, but rather a switch to a different, stable, self-reinforcing pattern that is nevertheless not necessary total. An “awakened” person may not be awake in every moment, especially in the first months and years after they switch from identification with the self to not identify, because the new pattern of mental behavior is not completely stabilized and integrated (our minds are made up of many mental habits, and each of those habits has to get the awakening update, and new habits can potentially form that are not awake if one isn’t continuing to apply effort to stay awake).
Basically, yes, although two notes.
I’m not sure that I’ve been precise enough about the kind of mental pain that’s alleviated, because there are some emotions that are painful but are not dukkha, like fear and grief. So if you read this and think “awakening means not feeling sad or afraid” then that’s wrong, but awakening does mean that feeling sad or afraid is not distressing in any way beyond the initial emotion (the experience of fear becomes like “fear is happing to me” rather than “I’m afraid”).
Second, and this is partly the fault of how we talk about things in English, but also just to reiterate that it’s also slightly wrong to say that one becomes enlightened or awakened in that the normal understanding of what that means is slightly off. This is not a switch to a different persistent state, but rather a switch to a different, stable, self-reinforcing pattern that is nevertheless not necessary total. An “awakened” person may not be awake in every moment, especially in the first months and years after they switch from identification with the self to not identify, because the new pattern of mental behavior is not completely stabilized and integrated (our minds are made up of many mental habits, and each of those habits has to get the awakening update, and new habits can potentially form that are not awake if one isn’t continuing to apply effort to stay awake).